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Episode
7: Go! Gunbike!
Review by Chris September 12, 2003 At Shute's house, Bakunetsumaru practices his sword techniques while Shute sits inside his workshop with Captain. Captain tells Shute that his instructor from the SDG is coming to visit them because he has been assigned to their force. Shute is excited to hear that, and a large bike suddenly pulls up outside. Bakunetsumaru wonders if the bike is friend or foe, and Shute wonders where Captain's instructor is. Captain explains that his instructor's AI has been loaded into the Gunbike. Gunbike starts shouting at everyone and says he's come to teach them how to fight. Zero says he doesn't need any instruction, and Gunbike identifies him as a loner type who screws things up for the team. Bakunetsumaru agrees, and Gunbike identifies him as a hothead who rushes in to fight without thinking. He then looks at Shute and thinks that he is a wimpy human. Elsewhere, Grappler flies on a hovercraft and sneaks up on a freight train. He tries to place a control horn on the front car, but he slams into a tunnel wall and falls down. Shute shouts out for Gunbike, and Gunbike demands that he howl like a wolf. Captain picks up Dark Axis activity, and Gunbike orders everyone to move out. Bakunetsumaru leaves on Entengo along with Zero, while Captain flies up to his re-equip ring to swap his parts out for battle. Gunbike asks Shute to get into the sidecar to use his weight as a counterbalance. Keiko brings out hot chocolate and cookies, but everyone is already gone. Captain then docks with Gunbike and they head for the train. On the out of control train, Grappler places a control horn on the second car as well, giving him complete control. The Gundams arrive, and Zero rushes in first against Gunbike's orders. He flies over all the Zakos and pulls out his sword to fight Grappler. Captain and Bakunetsumaru jump onto the train to give Zero back up. Captain tries to fire at the control horns with his beam rifle, but Zero and Bakunetsumaru keep getting in his way. He runs out of ammo, and Gunbike yells at them to work as a team. Zero jumps up to destroy a control horn, but he accidentally slams into a tunnel wall and is laughed at by Grappler. The train goes through a tunnel, and Captain and Bakunetsumaru find themselves surrounded by Zakos. The train travels through several more tunnels, and they keep finding each other on opposite ends of the Zakos. Gunbike asks Shute if they are always so disorganized, and Shute says they usually aren't. Gunbike catches up to the train and tells Captain and Bakunetsumaru that a Zakrello Gate is ahead of them, but behind it is a large gasworks. If the train crashes into it, it will cause great destruction. Grappler attacks with the firepower on his hovercraft, and he separates the rear cars from the engines. Bakunetsumaru takes him on while Captain goes for the horns. Grappler fires missiles at the rear cars, which sends them flying towards Gunbike and Shute. Captain jumps off the train and slices the cars apart with his beam saber. Gunbike yells at him for disobeying orders and tells him that the mission is the priority. Captain says they don't have time to argue and starts running after the train. Gunbike tells him he'll never catch up that way and orders him to climb aboard. Gunbike reaches top speed, but Grappler has the train speed up. Captain asks Shute to help start up the soul drive, which causes Gunbike to speed up. Captain then jumps off and kicks Grappler to destroy one of the horns while Gunbike destroys the other. The train then goes off the track and heads for the gasworks, and Gunbike tries to slow down the train after ejecting Shute's sidecar. Captain disobeys orders and joins Gunbike to stop the train, followed by Bakunetsumaru, Entengo and Zero. With all their combined power, the train finally stops just short of the gasworks. Gunbike tells everyone they did a good job despite being a bunch of disobedient lunatics. On the Zako Zako Hour, the Zakos discuss how they always lose despite having lots of weapons. They also mention that they can't make things and have to steal them. They mention that Grappler stole the hovercraft he has, and Grappler yells at them. With this episode we're introduced to the new character Gunbike. I don't even know where to start with this guy. He's what you get if you combined the G-Fighter with a motorcycle and the personality of R. Lee Ermey. However, he is correct in pointing out that the Gundams have no teamwork skills. Of course, they learn the valuable lesson of working together, and I can already see other such cartoon morals coming soon. In the last episode, Zapper attacked by himself, and this time Grappler attacked on his own. Given the pattern, the next episode will probably feature the gun-toting maniac Destroyer launching his own foolish plan. Overall
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars |